Air conditioning system for a reduced space area of a room

ABSTRACT

An air conditioning (“A/C”) system for conditioning the air primarily within a partitioned space in which one or more persons reside within a room or structure, where the A/C system does not condition the air outside of the partitioned space within the room or structure. Such a partitioned space within a room or structure may be a portion of the room or structure in which a sleeping bed is positioned, and a portion of the living space lying over the sleeping bed. The A/C system may replace an existing ceiling fan, and be installed in place thereof. A canopy is draped over the partitioned space to enclose the area being air conditioned.

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/491,041, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to air conditioning systems, and more particularly, to an air conditioning system for a reduced space area of a room.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Air conditioning (“A/C”) systems are widely used for “conditioning” habitable spaces with inside closed structures such as buildings, offices, and dwellings among others. “Conditioned” air may include cooled air, warmed air, dehumidified air, or any other method by which the quality and/or properties of the air are selectively modified. Typically, an air conditioner unit removes heat from the air by passing it through a heat exchanger containing a cooling fluid, or a heat exchanger cooled by some other mechanism such as the Peltier (or thermoelectric) effect. Usually, but not always, the air inside the cooled space absorbs heat from the walls, floor, people, and other objects inside the space being cooled. A substantial part of the energy used in conventional air conditioning arrangements results only in cooling of the building structure and the objects inside the cooled space, and removal of heat entering through the roof or ceiling, walls, floor, and particularly through open or covered apertures, such as the windows and doors. This energy requirement can be reduced by providing additional insulation or by shading the roof, walls, windows, and doors. However, these measures are not always possible, particularly with older buildings not designed with energy efficiency in mind.

People often spend long periods of time at a single location within a room (such as sleeping on a bed), and it is only necessary to keep the upper body and face cooled for a person to feel very comfortable. During the night, especially during warmer months, a majority of the energy load in residential buildings, particularly within multi-family complexes, is from the air conditioner units located in bedrooms or a thermostat for a central A/C system set lower in bedrooms. In fact, A/C loads at night determine the peak electricity loads for such multi-family complexes, resulting in significant investment by the builders. Thus, any significant reduction in this peak load can result in savings and electrical power installation for the building.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an air conditioning system for conditioning the air over and around a sleeping surface, such as a sleeping bed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a process for retrofitting a bedroom in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an air conditioning system configured in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide an A/C system for conditioning the air within a partitioned space in a room or structure. Aspects of the present disclosure provide an A/C system for conditioning the air primarily within a partitioned space in which one or more persons reside within a room or structure, where the A/C system does not condition the air outside of the partitioned space within the room or structure (except possibly as a result of relatively insignificant leakage through the materials creating the partitioned space). In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, such a partitioned space within a room or structure is a portion of the room or structure in which a sleeping bed is positioned, and a portion of the living space lying over the sleeping bed. By localizing the effect of an air conditioner unit to just a small section of the cooled space, typically away from doors, windows, and walls, very large energy savings are possible.

As a result, aspects of the present disclosure provide a reduced energy consumption A/C system for conditioning the air inside limited areas, which may include the implementation of lower cost air conditioning equipment.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a reduced area A/C system that selectively conditions the air within a given structure. The reduced area A/C system includes an air conditioning unit connected to a reduced space inside a structure. The air conditioning unit supplies conditioned air to the reduced space area in order to selectively modify or adjust the quality and/or properties of the air inside the reduced space area. The reduced space area may be surrounded and covered by a layer or layers of a thermal insulation material. Such a thermal insulation material may be configured to reduce heat losses as well as leakage of conditioned air from the reduced space area.

An advantage of embodiments of the present disclosure is that only a smaller volume of the entire room needs to be air conditioned in comparison to the volume of the entire room or structure. Hence, only a reduced “livable” area is actually conditioned as opposed to conditioning regions or areas in the room or structure that are not normally occupied by a person during certain times of the day (e.g., during the night).

Aspects of the present disclosure provide an A/C system that is configured for conditioning air within a desired reduced space area surrounding a region of one or more articles of furniture to be occupied by at least one person.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the A/C system includes an air conditioning unit that replaces a typical ceiling fan, which was previously mounted from the ceiling of the room (i.e., the overhead interior surface of a room) in which the desired reduced spaced area is located.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of embodiments of the present disclosure in which an A/C system 100 is configured for conditioning (e.g., cooling) air within a desired reduced space area surrounding a region containing one or more articles of furniture. Though any desired reduced space area within a room or structure may have its air conditioned, the example illustrated in FIG. 1 depicts how an article of furniture (e.g., a reduced space area above (and possibly around or adjacent) a sleeping bed 110) may have its surrounding environmental air conditioned in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. A top surface of the sleeping bed 110 and the reduced space area above (and possibly around or adjacent) the sleeping bed 110 may be enclosed by a canopy 102, which may be made from a flexible material, that drapes around a space above the sleeping bed 110 (and possibly its immediately surrounding vicinity). As can be seen in FIG. 1, the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102 contains a volume that is less than the entire volume of the room. The canopy 102 may be installed so that it is configured to enclose all or a portion of an A/C unit 101 within the enclosed reduced space area, or at least so that the air inlet(s) and outlet(s) of the A/C unit 101 are positioned relative to the canopy 102 (e.g., within the enclosed reduced space area) so as to substantially exchange (and condition) only the air within the enclosed reduced space area. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the A/C unit 101 in operation cools the air contained within the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102 so that a temperature level of the air contained within the reduced space area is less than a temperature level of air residing in the room outside of the reduced space area.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the canopy 102 may be made from any well-known canopy material, such as those commercially available for creating a canopy over a sleeping bed. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the canopy 102 may be a thermal insulating material fabricated from a lightweight flexible material. For example, the canopy 102 may be made from a high thermal resistance woolen cloth material to maintain a lower temperature (e.g., 4-5 degrees lower), and possibly humidity, for the air over the sleeping bed canopy 102 relative to the remainder of the room 120 not enclosed by the canopy 102. However, other suitable materials having good thermal and insulating properties may be substituted for the canopy 102. For example, the canopy 102 may be made from other various materials, such as a thermoplastic material, acrylic, polyester, olefin, nylon, aramid, silk, spandex, linen, cotton, rayon, and acetate, to name a few. Moreover, a closely woven fabric of a cooler fiber may be utilized, since it can be warmer than a not so closely woven fabric of a warmer fiber.

The canopy 102 may be in the form of a sheet or a plurality of individual sheets (which may be fastened or attached to each other, or merely overlaying each other) surrounding and substantially enclosing the reduced space area, such as depicted in FIG. 1. Note that FIG. 1 depicts the canopy 102 in a transparent manner so that the bed 110 is shown; however, the canopy 102 may be made of a translucent or opaque material. The single sheet or plurality of sheets may be manually readjusted as the enclosed area of the reduced space area is selectively changed by a person. The sheet or plurality of sheets may be installed by fastening it/them to the A/C unit 101, or to some sort of frame coupled to the A/C unit 101, or to a rod 103 from which the A/C unit 101 is mounted in proximity to the ceiling of the room 120. Individual sheets may be fastened together or to the A/C unit 101, etc. by any well-known permanent or removable fastening means.

A unique aspect of the A/C system 100 is that a low power (e.g., 100 watts) A/C unit can be utilized to replace a previously mounted ceiling fan within the room 120. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the A/C unit 101 may he mounted to the rod 103 previously utilized to mount the ceiling fan to the ceiling within the room 120. Such a lower wattage A/C unit reduces the total power consumption required for conditioning the reduced space area over the sleeping bed 110, because typical A/C units for conditioning entire rooms and structures utilize a 500 watt or greater A/C unit to maintain the entire environment for persons residing therein. Furthermore, the existing wiring that had been utilized to power the previously installed ceiling fan can now be utilized to power and/or control the newly mounted A/C unit 101 so that new wiring is not required to he installed, which might require access to crawl space behind the ceiling and/or walls of the room.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the A/C unit 101 is configured to condition the air by passing it through a heat exchanger containing a cooling fluid, or a heat exchanger cooled by some other mechanism such as the Peltier (or thermoelectric) effect. Such an A/C unit 101 may utilize a freon condenser based A/C system. Control of the A/C unit 101 may be performed by a wired or wireless controller as is well known in the art.

Within certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the room 120 may also include another source of conditioned air, such as one or more vents (not shown) connected to a central A/C system (not shown), or an individual A/C unit, such as those typically installed within a hole or window of a wall of the room 120 (e.g., the A/C unit 140). In such a configuration, the combined efforts of the A/C unit 101 and the A/C unit 140 (or the aforementioned central A/C system) can be utilized to individually condition the air in the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102 and the air within the remainder of the room 120. A savings in electricity is still realized, since the A/C unit 101 can be set to condition (e.g., cool to a desired temperature) the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102, while the A/C unit 140 (or central A/C system) can he set to maintain the remainder of the room 120 at a higher temperature.

Note that in certain embodiments of the present disclosure, a vent (not shown) can be installed to exhaust the heated air (and evaporated water) from the A/C unit 101 to a location external from the room 120. In other embodiments, such heated air (and evaporated water) can be exhausted into the remainder of the room 120 outside of the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102. In this latter configuration, the heated air (and evaporated water) is added to the environment within the remainder of the room 120 outside of the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102, which is then conditioned by the second A/C unit 140 (or central A/C system).

For example, consider an exemplary room (e.g., the room 120) having dimensions of 10 ft. (“feet”)×12 ft.×8 ft., and the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy 102 has approximate dimensions of 8 ft.×6 ft.×4 ft. If the A/C unit 101 thermostat is set to about 69° F., and the thermostat for the A/C unit 140 (or central A/C system) is set to about 74° F., then the power consumption of the combined efforts of the two A/C systems will be about one third of the power consumption of solely the A/C unit 140 (or the portion of the central A/C system allocated to the room 120) in order to cool the entire room 120 to about 69° F. without the installed A/C system 100.

Referring to FIG. 2, embodiments of the present disclosure provide for a retrofitting of a room in order to provide for an A/C system, such as the A/C system 100 illustrated in the example of FIG. 1. Within such a retrofitting process, in step 201, a ceiling fan previously mounted from the ceiling of the room 120 is replaced with the A/C unit 101. An important aspect of step 201 is that the existing power and/or control wiring that was connected to the previously installed ceiling fan can then be utilized for powering and/or controlling the newly installed A/C unit. Then, in step 202, a canopy 102 is fastened as previously described to substantially enclose a reduced space area in the room (e.g., a reduced space area over (and possibly around) an article of furniture (e.g., a sleeping bed 110)). In step 203, at some time, the canopy 102 may be positioned so that it encloses the reduced space area. Thus, it can be readily appreciated that the A/C unit 101 and canopy 102 could be sold as a kit that a person could purchase from a store to replace the ceiling fan in a room.

Within alternative embodiments of the present disclosure, the existing ceiling fan is not replaced, but instead an A/C unit (e.g., the A/C unit 101) is combined with a ceiling fan (not shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of simplicity), and the combined system is utilized to condition the air within the enclosed canopy 102.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary installation of an A/C unit in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. An enclosure 310, which may take any appropriate shape or size, is configured to hold and maybe at least partially enclose an A/C unit (not shown), similar to the A/C unit 101. The enclosure may be configured to be hung from a ceiling 320 of a room (e.g., the room 120) by chains 322 (or any other suitable means), or the enclosure 310 may be mounted adjacent to the ceiling 320. One or more variously located vents 330 may be formed in the walls of the enclosure 310 to allow for the exchange of air between the reduced space area and the A/C unit. Such vents 330 may be located to correspond with any air inlet(s) and/or air outlet(s) of the A/C unit. The canopy (not shown in FIG. 3, but shown as canopy 102 in FIG. 1) can be hung from the ceiling 320 or to the mounting chains 322 (or in any other suitable manner) so that the canopy encloses the enclosure 310 and the reduced space area to be air conditioned within the room, similarly as described with respect to FIG. 1. Alternatively, the canopy may be hung from the hook 325 on the underside of the enclosure 310, and the canopy suitably draped around the enclosure 310 so that the conditioned air from the A/C unit escapes from the vent(s) 330 into the partitioned space enclosed by the canopy.

It will be understood that particular embodiments described herein are shown by way of illustration and not as limitations of the disclosure. The principal features of this disclosure can be employed in various embodiments without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

The use of the word “a” or “an” may mean “one,” but it is also consistent with the meaning of “one or more,” “at least one,” and “one or more than one.” The use of the term “or” is used to mean “and/or” unless explicitly indicated to refer to alternatives only or the alternatives are mutually exclusive, although the disclosure supports a definition that refers to only alternatives and “and/or.” As used herein, the term “about” is used to provide flexibility to a numerical endpoint by providing that a given value may be “a little above” or “a little below” the endpoint.

As used herein, the term “substantially” refers to the complete or nearly complete extent or degree of an action, characteristic, property, state, structure, item, or result. For example, an object that is “substantially” enclosed would mean that the object is either completely enclosed or nearly completely enclosed. The exact allowable degree of deviation from absolute completeness may in some cases depend on the specific context. However, generally speaking, the nearness of completion will be so as to have the same overall result as if absolute and total completion were obtained. The use of “substantially” is equally applicable when used in a negative connotation to refer to the complete or near complete lack of an action, characteristic, property, state, structure, item, or result.

As used herein, “adjacent” refers to the proximity of two structures or elements. Particularly, elements that are identified as being “adjacent” may be either abutting or connected. Such elements may also be near or close to each other without necessarily contacting each other. The exact degree of proximity may in some cases depend on the specific context. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: mounting an air conditioning (“A/C”) unit in proximity to a ceiling of a room; and installing a canopy so that the canopy encloses a reduced space area within the room, wherein the canopy is configured relative to the A/C unit so that the A/C unit in operation conditions air contained within the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the mounting of the A/C unit comprises replacing a ceiling fan with the A/C unit.
 3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the reduced space area contains a volume that is less than all of the volume of the room.
 4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the canopy substantially encloses an article of furniture located within the room.
 5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the article of furniture is a sleeping bed.
 6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the canopy is configured relative to the A/C unit so that the A/C unit substantially conditions the air contained within the reduced space area residing over the sleeping bed when the canopy is positioned to enclose a top surface of the sleeping bed.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the canopy is configured relative to an air inlet and air outlet of the A/C unit so that the A/C unit substantially exchanges and conditions only the air contained within the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy.
 8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the mounting of the A/C unit comprises: removing a ceiling fan previously installed within the room; mounting the A/C unit in a location vacated by the ceiling fan; and utilizing existing wiring that had been powering the previously installed ceiling fan to power the mounted A/C unit.
 9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the A/C unit in operation cools the air contained within the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy so that a temperature level of the air contained within the reduced space area is less than a temperature level of air residing in the room outside of the reduced space area.
 10. An A/C system for a room comprising: an A/C unit suitable for mounting to a ceiling of a room; and a canopy suitable for enclosing a reduced space area of the room, wherein during operation the A/C unit cools the air contained within the reduced space area enclosed by the canopy so that a temperature level of the air contained within the reduced space area is less than a temperature level of air residing in the room outside of the reduced space area.
 11. The A/C system as recited in claim 10, wherein the A/C unit is configured to mount to a ceiling fan rod after removal of the ceiling fan from the rod.
 12. The A/C system as recited in claim 10, wherein the A/C unit is configured to connect to existing power wiring that had been previously powering a ceiling fan after removal of the ceiling fan from the ceiling.
 13. The A/C system as recited in claim 10, wherein the reduced space area contains a volume that is less than all of the volume of the room.
 14. The A/C system as recited in claim 13, wherein the canopy is suitable for enclosing a top surface of a sleeping bed.
 15. A method comprising: substantially enclosing a first volume of a room with a flexible canopy, wherein the first volume is less than an entire volume of the room; and operating a first A/C unit so that it cools air contained within the first volume of the room to a first temperature that is lower than a second temperature of air contained within a second volume of the room not substantially enclosed by the flexible canopy.
 16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the A/C unit is mounted to a ceiling of the room.
 17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the A/C unit is connected to already existing power or control wiring utilized for a ceiling fan previously mounted to the ceiling.
 18. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising operating a second A/C unit so that it cools the second volume of the room to the second temperature.
 19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the first A/C unit is mounted to a ceiling of the room, and wherein the second A/C unit is mounted within a wall of the room.
 20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the first A/C unit is mounted to a ceiling of the room, and wherein the second A/C unit is a central A/C system, wherein the flexible canopy is configured so that an air outlet of the first A/C unit is substantially enclosed within the first volume. 